


Observations

by graveExcitement (arachnids)



Category: The Order of the Stick
Genre: Gen, Genderqueer, Genderqueer Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-06
Updated: 2013-03-06
Packaged: 2017-12-04 10:38:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arachnids/pseuds/graveExcitement
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vaarsuvius is genderless, but the world outside the Elven Lands doesn't seem to comprehend this. Written for the <a href="http://gqff.livejournal.com/1041.html">2013 Genderqueer Fanworks Fest</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Observations

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt: "Nobody can tell Vaarsuvius' gender, because V doesn't have one.
> 
> Keep the bio sex under wraps as canon does, preferred pronouns are "V" and "V's"."

Over the past several months, Vaarsuvius had had ample opportunity to observe other species' ideas about gender. V did not truly take advantage of this opportunity, because gender was largely irrelevant compared to both the study of magic and the villains the Order of the Stick stumbled across left and right. Nonetheless, V had learned some things, even without attempting or desiring to do so.

For instance, outside V's elven homeland, gender appeared to be a large component in whether someone was romantically interested in someone else. This occurred in the Elven Lands too, but there it tended to be the exception, rather than the rule.

Perhaps more significant was that here - and here applied to anywhere outside the Elven Lands, from Azure City to the Empire of Blood and beyond - most people did not seem to make a distinction between gender and biological sex, and simply assumed based on what they saw. And if what they saw confused them, or did not conform to their expectations of gender, they would remain very confused indeed, floundering around like a hapless fish.

Back home gender, or lack thereof, was up to what felt right for the individual, and no one questioned it. It had long been known, or so Aarindarius had told V long ago, that there was little to no correlation between biological sex and gender identity in elves, and V felt no need to question them.

Beyond the elven homeland, however, 'male' and 'female' appeared to be the the only categories most denizens tended to consider. When flummoxed by someone's gender, they would simply assume one or the other, loosely based on available data.

Or so Vaarsuvius had gathered, based on others' reactions to V upon first meeting V. Even the other members of V's party assumed one way or the other, but V had no interest in correcting them. They had all taken their guesses, though usually not to V's face, but based on their societies' collective relatively primitive ideas about gender, explaining would simply eat up valuable time.

None of them would ever get it right - for it was highly unlikely that they would consider that V might have no gender at all - but V quite simply did not care. V's gender was largely irrelevant, no matter which pronoun someone else happened to use to describe V, and - as always - there were larger issues at hand.


End file.
